Reenforcing cage machine



Feb- 23, 1932 o. A. STEUER E'r AL 1,845,767

REENFORC ING CAGE MACHINE Filed Sept, 25, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Orr' A. STEQER,

JOHN A. CARR,

Feb. 23, 1932. ofA. -sTEuER ET AL REENFORCING CAGE MACHINE Filedsep't. 25, 1928 5 sheetAs-sheet 2 bmw / N vENraHS:

OTTO Snel/ER J'oH/v A C ARI?,

Feb. 23, 1932. o. A. STEUER ETAl., 1,846,767

REENFORCING CAGE MACHINE Filed sept. 25., 1928 5 sheets-shew 5 uvvlsNr-ons:

Orr-o A. STEL/ar?,

Jornv A. CAP-rf" Fell 23, 1932.

O. A.` STEUER ET AL REEFORCING CAGE MAQHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet" 4 Filed. sept. 25;." 192s A1 STEUER,

Orro

www. .2 N y Feb. 23, 1932. o. A. STEUER E1' AL REENFORCING CAGE MACHINE v5 Sheets-Sheet' 5 Filed Sept 25.. 1928 l/vvsNTDPS:

J'oHN 14. CARR,

Orro A. STEUER,

Bly: Y

Y and Patented F eb. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES 'PATE` om'ro A. sTEUER AND JOHN A. CARR,

l WESTERN CONCRETE PIPE` COMPANY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA `aEEivroRoI-lve CAGE MACHINE Application mea september 25. 192s.

fThisinvention relates to devices used for Winding and preparing reenforcements for tubes, especially concrete tubes. i

One of the objects of thisy invention isto provide a machinethat can'be adjusted to automatically Wind reenforcing material in a circular and other reenforcements.

Another object is to provide mechanisms for changing the speed duringthe-Winding preparing of reenforcing material When the reenforcing material is tied orv Wound in acertain direction for acertain length of time so that When, for instance, a circular Winding is to be done over a suitable length, the velocity of the machine can be increased to quickly finish a cylindrical Winding While, on the other hand, the velocity of the machine may be decreased When the reenforcing material is wound in an irregular manner.

Another object is to provide a feeding mechanism whereby reenforcing .material can be guided in a. certain'spaced manner to produce an evenly prepared stretch of reenforcing material Within a Whole reenforcement. l

Another` object is to provide a mechanism for controlling the speed of the feeding mech-- anism.

Another object is to provide 'adjustin means whereby larger and smaller diameters can be Woundand prepared.

Another object is toprovide means Whereby different sizeddrums can be exchangeably mounted.

Anotheriobject is to provide automatic reversing mechanisms for guiding reenforcin material back and forth in a certain predetermined manner.

Another object is to .provide adjustable supporting means for the various cage-holding drums. Another object is to provide means facilitating a removal of a finished reenforcing cage. Y

Other objects Will appear Vfrom the {following description and appended claims as Well as from the accompanying drawings, in Which- Fig. 1 is a top plan view of aV reenforcing manner for. cylindrical `automatic feeding-device. f f g Wire-guldserial No. 308,328.

cage Winding machine `'including certain mechanisms according to this'invention'J 'f Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the cage vrind ing machine illustrated in Fig. 1.

ig.'3 is a fragmentary cross-section on line 3-3 of Figs. 1 and'2. i Fig. 4 is a fragmentary end-elevation 'as seen in the direction oftherarrows 4 inFigs.

l and 2. 'A

Fig. 5 is a fragmentarydetail cross-sectionl through the drum-shaft, illustrating thefa'dj ustable supporting-means of the drum.

ig. 6 is a front-elevation of the supporting-means illustrated in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a 'fragmentary detail front-elevation of the controllingfrnecha,nist/n1`forYE the Fig. 8 is a side-elevationofthe OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNORS TOC ing and Wire-controlling`mechanisms in operative relationtoa fragmentary -c'rosssection through the top -plate of the carriage details of the mechanisms.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary detailend-eleva- 75 tion of the supporting-jack for `theer'ldof the'drum-supporting-shaft. f'

Fig. 10 is a front-elevation of the Slipporting-jack illustrated in Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary detail longitudi- 1 g nal-section through a drum and an adjustable attaching-plate whereby reenforcing'material may be Wound slightly conical at thejend of the drum; Y j.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary detailfcrossls'ecti'on 85 through a pin-holder. I. u j t Fig. 13 is a top plan vievvofthepin-holder g illustrated in Fig. 12.

paratively regular manner to assure va suitably even, central or desired location ofthe `on line` 8*,8 of Fig. 31, illustratingthev diverse i reenforcing material within such pipes and v tubes.

It must therefore be understood that dur-y m ing the process of winding or preparingsuch a reenforcmg cage there occur certain stretches of comparatively even winding or even zigzagging.

One of the principal objectsof this invention is therefore to provide a machine with changing speed controls by which, for instance, during a circular and cylindrical winding the velocity of the machine can be increased to finish such a section quickly and automatically.

On the other hand, the changeable speed control allows a decreasing of the velocity of the machine where the reenforcing material is to be wound irregular between certain regular layers within a reenforcing cage, so .that such a zigzagging or connecting section inthe cage can eventually be inished by hand withoutthe automatic control mechanism of the machine, eventually by hand levers controlling the guiding mechanisms, if the reenforcing material is not exactly held or guided byhand.

As illustrated, an exchangeable drum 16 lis provided as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 .aboutwhich a reenforcing cage can be wound .and prepared.l This drum is coupled to the main driving shaft 17 of a driving apparatus. This driving shaft is connected by a transmission 18, 18a, 18h, 18c and 18d to a motor 19. The parts 18.and 18d may be gears or sprocket-wheelsand chains or any other .similar suitable motion-transmitting means.

The part 18a is preferably a clutch whereby the driving motion transmitted from the motor 19 may be interrupted at will. y The part 18.c is preferably any variable speed transmission obtainable on theopen market, such as a speed transmission manufactured by the Stephens Adamson Manufacturing Comp any,

Aurora, Illinois, though no particular claim to any particular certain type of variable speed transmission is made in this application.`

A control for 'the variable speed transmission Vis indicated at 2O in Figs. 1 and 3.

With this arrangement themain drum supporting shaft 17 can be variably rotated so that the drum 16 may be rotated comparatively slowly while reenforcing material vis being tied somewhat diagonally fromend to end over the drum as indica-ted by a straight and even winding.

material is wound spirally in suitably spaced relation overthe whole length of the drum as indicatedby-..-..-....line at 22 in Fig. 2.

For winding the reenforcing material evenly spaced in a spiral manner as indicated by the line an automatic feedin@ mechanism is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4,?, and s. Y u n r-Any reenfcrcing material, lfor instance wire, is placed alongA the -line indicated at 23`in Fig. 8 over several rollers 24. These rollers are mounted on a carriage indicated at 25 in Figs. 1' and 2 shiftable in the directions of the arrows 26 on a frame structure 27. The top platform 25ri of this carriage is riage over the frame structure can be reversed in such a manner that the reenforcing material passing over the rollers 24 is guided to wind in a predetermined manner around the drum 16. The roller 24,L is adjustable by the hand-wheel 30 to offer a suitable resistance for the reenforcing material while it passes overvthe rollers in order to retard the 'reenforcing material to assure The weighted lever 31 near the upper roller 24,J also serves to retard the passing reenforcing material. f

As the top plate 25,l of the carriage comes into contact with either the stop 28 or the stop 29 the shifting rod 32, to whichy these stops 28and 29are' adjustably secured, is

caused lto move in the directions of the arrows 26 so as to correspondingly actuate the lever 33.v

The lever is provided with a `gear segment 34 meshed with a gear pinion 35. This gear pinionispreferably a part of a reversible apparatus orswitch roughly outlined at 36 in Figs. 1 and 2. Incase an electric switch is connected to the gearpinion 35, such electric switch, of course, is in operativeconnectionv with a reversibly operating motor, as, for instance, indicated at 37.

Reversible motors are made of various types and designs, to be had onthe open market, and, of course, cooperating switches mustgbe made of different shapes and forms accordingly, but, inasmuch as switches, too, can be had onthe open market in any suitable, desired, or required .form and design, no particular switch ismeant to be indicated by the showing in the drawings or by any reference in the specification with respect to details in the drawings.

The motor 37 is in operative connection 1 with a variable speed control or variable speed transmission 38 controllable by the lever 39. This variable speed'transmission-ls in operative connection with a driving shaft The ends of a flexible connection roughly indicated at 41 are connected to the opposite edges of the top plate 25a of the carriage, as indicated at 42 and 43, so thatthe carriage will be moved over the framestructure 27 in one direction when the reversible motor 37 is so actuated and again the carriage 25 will be moved in the opposite direction whenever the reversible motor is so actuated.

The reversing mechanism can also be controlled by hand-levers indicated at 44 and 45 near the opposite ends of the frame structure 27 to take care of sudden changes that may be desired during the operation and winding of a reenforcing cage. Y

The drum 16 is exchangeably connected to the main shaft 17 by the coupling 46.

The main shaft is primarily mounted within the main structure 47, in addition to which supporting rollers are mounted under the coupling, whereby the weight of the drum and eventually of reinforcing' material wound around the drum is distributed over these different supports.

This eXtra roller-support is illustrated in detail in Figs. 5 and 6. The rollers 48 are pivotally mounted at 49 in the bracket 5() which are supported by the base 51 with the adjusting mea-ns 52 between the supporting pivot 49 and the base 51, the adjusting means consisting of a screw-collar-ring 52a disposed on the screw-plunger 52h within the base 51, so that the support of the coupling 46 can be adjusted suitably in relation to the main bearings in the main structure 47.

The opposite end of the drum is supported by a structure illustrated in detail in Figs. 9 and 10.

'The collar-wheel 53 rests in a segmental shoe 54 of a `vertically adjustable plunger 55. The plunger is mounted shiftably within the yoke frame 56, which in turn is pivotally supported on the shaft 57. The plunger is furthermore supported by an adjustable connection-rod 58, which is mounted at its lower end on an eccentric 59. The eccentric is a portion of the shaft 57, controllable by the lever 60. The shaft 57 is turnably mounted in the bearing boxes 61.

rl'he connecting-rod 58 with the plunger 56 can be lowered by means of the eccentric 59 and the lever 60. This serves to suitably free the support-ing shoe 54 sufficiently from the collarwheel 53 so that the whole structure can be swung around the shaft 5'7 by means of the supporting yoke 55, to bring it to a flat resting position on the gro-und or supporting base, in which condition the drum 16 may be removed in an endwise direction from the whole apparatus, especially in case of an exchange of different sizes of drums.

The main drum 16, illustrated in Figs. 14 and 15, is more specifically and in detail disclosed and referred vto in the co-pending divisional application, filed August 4th, 1930,

Serial No. 47 3,036. number of segments 16 Vare eXpansibly mounted by the interengagements .62-64 on the hollow shaft 63,

voperatively connected to the central spindle y67 by means of the blocks 66 movable within the hollow shaft inthe directions of the double arrow 65. apertures are-provided in the drum segments for the tie-pins as illustrated in detail in Figs. 12 and 13, making the tiepins 7 3 shiftable within brackets 74'and, b means of the grooves and 76 and the tumbier 77 under the tension of the spring 78, adjustable, with respect to protruding the pin-endsbeyond the outer periphery of the drum-segments.

.By the slotted flanges 79, the brackets 74 can be adjustably secured to the drum-segments .in sucha manner that the pins can, eitheigprotrude from the drum for tying operations bymeans of the interengagement 76-77, bringing the outermost pineend to protrude from the drum, or disappear by means of the interengagement 7 5-77, with the wholey of the pin within the bracket or at least in disappearing position to such an ei;-VV

tent that a finished cage can be removed from the drum over which it had been wound and tied by means of the protruding pins.

A removal ofthe finished reenforcing cage is furthermore made easy by the fact that the drum segments can be contracted by means of the interengagements 62-64.

One end of each of the drum segments is made adjustable for winding the end of .a cage in a taper form. The segment-section 16a, illustrated in detail in Fig. 11, is provided with the'slotted bracket 80, to engage by means of the pin or bolt 81 with the arm 82, whereby the section 16a can be adjusted to different angular positions with respect to the druni-segment to which the section is attached.

llavimr thus described our invention, we

claim 1. In a reenforcing-cage winding-machine,

work, a guide-bed for cage-material controlshaft, a cage-material guiclingcarriage operling-mechanisms sideWisevof said ramework and parallel to the aXis of said shaft, a cage-- holding drum with one end eXcha-ngeably mounted on and operative by the said connection-end, a cage-material guiding carriage operatively mounted Von said bed and eX- changeably applied to said connection-end, means for turnably supporting both ends of the drum independently of said framework, means for tilting the outermost of such supporting means to facilitate an exchange of large drums and corresponding large cages Wound on the drum, means for turning the drum by means of said main driving shaft, and other means mounted in the framework for operating said carriage.

ln testimony that We claim the foregoing as our invention We have signed our names.

` OTTO A. STEUER. JHN A. CARR. 

